Peiriannydd wrote:http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2017/07/21/manchesters-tallest-building-set-for-green-light/"The scheme consists of a cluster of buildings, two towers of 26 storeys, one of 37, another of 41 and what will be the tallest in Manchester at 67 storeys."

"Manchester’s race for the sky is now confirming it as Britain’s second city for towers."

Good for Manchester! I wouldn't have thought 10 years ago that any British city other than London would be talking about building a 67 storey tower.

edit:

this is in addition to Owen street. They are all in the same area of town so M/cr will end up with a decent cluster, if its not too careful

There's a lot happening in Manchester and in fairness, this "Northern Powerhouse" idea is more than just a political sound-bite. There is real drive to build up that area with Manchester at its centre. It's just what the UK needs, stronger regional centres with more autonomy to drive a more diverse economy. From that, developments like this will come naturally.

Hopefully South Wales becomes one of those strong regional centres. But I worry that not enough attention is being given by the UK government. Everyone talks about improving the North, but nobody ever seems to talk about improving Wales. Developments like HS2 with no planned GWR spur show the intent is to grow cities in England and Scotland alone. Still no tidal lagoon, still no M4 relief road, still no metro, and sub-par rail electrification. We've only just had promise of the scrapping of the Severn tolls. Meanwhile, London is getting yet another form of a metro which nobody asked for.

I'd say that given the general lack of interest from the UK government, Cardiff has done pretty well for itself recently. Hopefully things change and we see a real urge to get South Wales to the same level of rejuvenation as the so-called "northern powerhouse". I suppose the city deals are a good start...

Without even the first signs of the M4 relief road happening, removing the Severn Bridge tolls will be a disaster for traffic flows at peak times, if they weren't bad enough.It was the only thing that actually helped things.

Might provide a boost for Bristol Airport! unintended consequences

A congestion charge on this section of motorway might not be a bad idea.

I've heard that removing the tolls will add an extra 15% onto the current traffic levels. Does anyone really think that the M4 between the Severn Bridge and Cardiff could handle 15% extra cars and lorries? From what I understand, the problem with the M4 relief road is not Westminser, nor is it the Welsh Government. It's the planning process that's causing delays because we have all of these people who are worried about environmental consequences.

Things are happening with the Metro, but I don't think we'll see a huge spike in activity until the rail franchise comes up for tender and the control of that process is in Wales. In the meantime, the Welsh Government is acquiring land that is needed and commissioning bits of design work. The discussion on Cardiff Parkway confirm that things are going on behind the scenes.

Network Rail and the Welsh Government are still standing by their committment to electifying the Valleys and up to Cardiff. I've commented previously about the extension to Swansea in that the focus should really be on improving signalling, track speed limits and connecting services to Pembrokeshire and Aberystwyth. It would be nice to do it, but there are other priorities for that area.

I agree regarding the Tidal Lagoon. If they can guarantee a fixed price to EDF for a reactor design that is unproven in practice, then they should be able to offer the same for the lagoon.

South Wales’ biggest problem is that it is too close to Bristol, which has a larger population, more established business and better connections to other parts of the UK via road, rail and air. Devolution should give the South Wales area a massive edge of the Bristol area because we have a much greater political voice. But I don’t believe those tools have been used to the best advantage so far. We need to take charge of our own destiny. I’m not saying independence, but we can't expect those in Whitehall to come up with the answers because their priorities are elsewhere.

Anyway, this is all a bit off-topic for this thread, which is about tall buildings.